Summary Restricting children's exposures to marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages is a global obesity prevention priority. Monitoring marketing exposures supports informed policymaking. This study presents a global overview of children's television advertising exposure to healthy and unhealthy products. Twenty‐two countries contributed data, captured between 2008 and 2017. Advertisements were coded for the nature of foods and beverages, using the 2015 World Health Organization (WHO) Europe Nutrient Profile Model (should be permitted/not‐permitted to be advertised). Peak viewing times were defined as the top five hour timeslots for children. On average, there were four times more advertisements for foods/beverages that should not be permitted than for permitted foods/beverages. The frequency of food/beverages advertisements that should not be permitted per hour was higher during peak viewing times compared with other times (P < 0.001). During peak viewing times, food and beverage advertisements that should not be permitted were higher in countries with industry self‐regulatory programmes for responsible advertising compared with countries with no policies. Globally, children are exposed to a large volume of television advertisements for unhealthy foods and beverages, despite the implementation of food industry programmes. Governments should enact regulation to protect children from television advertising of unhealthy products that undermine their health.

Summary The food environment is a major contributor to unhealthy diets in children and, therefore, to the increasing rates of obesity. Acclaimed by scholars across the world, Latin American countries have been leaders in implementing policies that target different aspects of the food environment. Evidence on the nature and to what extent children are exposed and respond to unhealthy food environments in the region and among Latinos in the United States is, however, deficient. The objective of this review is to use the integrated International Network for Food and Obesity/noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) framework to create healthy food environment to (i) compare the key elements of childhood obesity‐related food environments in Latin America and for Latinos living in the United States; (ii) describe the evidence on solutions to improve childhood obesity‐related food environments; and (iii) identify research priorities to inform solutions to fight childhood obesity in these populations. We found that an integrated body of evidence is needed to inform an optimal package of policies to improve food environments to which children in Latin America and Latino children in the United States are exposed and more efficiently translate policy solutions to help curb growing childhood obesity levels across borders.

Objective: To examine snacking patterns, food sources, and nutrient profiles of snacks in low- and middle- income Chilean children and adolescents. Design: Cross-sectional. Dietary data were collected via 24-hour food recalls. We determined the proportion of snackers, snacks per day, and calories from top food and beverage groups consumed. We compared the nutrient profile (energy, sodium, total sugars, and saturated fat) of snacks versus meals. Setting: Southeast region of Chile. Subjects: Children and adolescents from 2 cohorts: the Food Environment Chilean Cohort (n = 958, 4– 6 years old) and the Growth and Obesity Cohort Study (n = 752, 12–14 years old). Results: With an average of 2.30 ± 0.03 snacks per day consumed, 95.2% of children and 89.9% of adolescents reported at least 1 snacking event. Snacks contributed on average 360 kilocalories per day in snacking children and 530 kilocalories per day in snacking adolescents (29.0% and 27.4% daily energy contribution, respectively). Grain-based desserts, salty snacks, other sweets and desserts, dairy foods, and cereal-based foods contributed the most energy from snacks in the overall sample. For meals, cereal- based foods, dairy beverages, meat and meat substitutes, oils and fats, and fruits and vegetables were the top energy contributors. Conclusions: Widespread snacking among Chilean youth provides over a quarter of their kilocalories per day and includes foods generally considered high in energy, saturated fat, sodium, and/or total sugars. Future research should explore whether snacking behaviors change as the result of Chile’s national regulations on food marketing, labeling and school environments.

Summary Background The Chilean government implemented the first phase of a comprehensive marketing policy in 2016, restricting child‐directed marketing of products high in energy, total sugars, sodium or saturated fat (hereafter “high‐in”). Objectives To examine the role that high‐in TV food advertising had in the effect of the policy on consumption of high‐in products between 2016 and 2017. Methods Dietary data were obtained from 24‐hour diet recall measured in 2016 (n = 940) and 2017 (n = 853), pre‐ and post‐policy, from a cohort of 4 to 6 years children. Television use was linked to analyses of food advertisements to derive individual‐level estimates of exposure to advertising. A multilevel mediation analysis examined direct and indirect effects of the policy through advertising exposure. Results Children's high‐in food consumption and advertising exposure declined significantly from 2016 to 2017 (P < .01). Consumption changes were not significantly mediated by changes in advertising exposure, which might suggest other elements of the Chilean Law potentially driving decreases in consumption to a greater extent than TV ads. Conclusions Preschoolers' exposure to high‐in advertising and consumption of high‐in products decreased post‐policy. Further research is needed to understand how marketing changes will relate to dietary changes after full implementation of the law and in the long term.